In <412CBDEF(_dot_)8050607(_at_)cs(_dot_)utk(_dot_)edu> Keith Moore
<moore(_at_)cs(_dot_)utk(_dot_)edu> writes:
now if I were to write a recommendation for how to write mbox files,
I'd say that all body parts MUST be encoded if necessary to prevent
the characters "From" from appearing at the beginning of a line.
I'd also say that Content-Length MUST NOT be written, that From_ dates
have to be in exactly such-and-such a format, that Return-Path fields
are REQUIRED when storing a message received by SMTP, even if they're
redundant with From_ lines, etc. but that's not the problem we're
currently trying to solve.
Which suggests an alternative to the usual, irreversible, >-stuffing
convention.
Actually, it reverses pretty well if you do it correctly.
Simple replace any line in the body starting with "From " with
"From=20" and ensure that the CTE is quoted-printable (well, there is a
bit more to it than that).
This was suggested over a decade ago when MIME was first developed.
The popularity of quoted-printable proved to be unsufficient.
Ned